Des Moines, Iowa - Under the direction of head coach Myra Minuskin, the Saint Xavier University softball team will take the No. 3 seed into this week's 2008 NAIA Region VII Softball Tournament, which begins on Wednesday, May 7, in Des Moines, Iowa. The Cougars (26-19 overall) will open the event at 9 a.m. Wednesday facing No. 6 seed William Penn University (Iowa) in the six-team, double-elimination event. The winner of that game will face No. 2 seed Waldorf College (Iowa), which received a first-round bye due to its seeding, at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

All games in the tournament will be played at the Grand View College Softball Field (1500 Morton Ave.) in Des Moines. The event is scheduled for May 7-9 (Wednesday through Friday) with Saturday, May 10, designated as the rain date. In addition to SXU's first-round game, No. 4 seed Grand View will take on No. 5 seed University of St. Francis (Ill.) at 11 a.m. Wednesday with the winner of that game scheduled to play No. 1 seed Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.) at 3 p.m. Thursday's games will begin at 10 a.m. and run every two hours until the final game at 4 p.m. Friday's championship is scheduled for 11 a.m. with a second game, if necessary, played at 1 p.m.